Local College Teams Weathered Many Highs and Lows in '13-'14

Sunday

May 25, 2014 at 3:08 AM

Weather reports and sports have a lot in common. There are record highs and all-time lows. There are hot and cold spells. There's also rain and droughts.

Weather reports and sports have a lot in common.There are record highs and all-time lows. There are hot and cold spells. There's also rain and droughts.Over the past nine months, Polk County's college sports teams have been caught in the storm of expectations. Some rose to shine like a mid-summer sun, and some were blown away like a hurricane-force wind.Here are some of those highs and lows.

THE HIGHSA HELPING HANDThere's no denying that the highlight of the entire season was the act of sportsmanship displayed by Florida Southern College softball players Chelsea Oglevie and Leah Pemberton. In case you've been out in the sun too long, Oglevie and Pemberton received national recognition for carrying Eckerd's Kara Oberer around the bases after her go-ahead home run in the top of the seventh inning on April 26. Oberer had injured her knee earlier in the game on a base hit by Pemberton and was reinserted into the game as a pinch-hitter with her team down 2-1 and Oglevie seeking to finish her college career with a win. Instead, it ended on Oberer's three-run home run. Despite the disappointment, Oglevie and Pemberton rushed to Oberer's aid as she nearly collapsed in pain after hobbling to first base. The pair carried Oberer around the bases and their act was highlighted on ESPN's "SportsCenter" and several other national news outlets.

BASKETBALL JONESBoth the Florida Southern and the Southeastern men's basketball teams were well worth the price of admission. The Mocs won the Sunshine State Conference for the third consecutive year and went on to win the SSC Tournament and earn the No. 1 seed in the South Regional. The Mocs were also ranked as high as No. 2 in Division II this year. Southeastern took its first trip to the NAIA Division II Men's Basketball Championship and made the most of its stay. The Fire made it to the Final Four, eventually falling to the eventual national champ Indiana Wesleyan. Along the way, the Fire upset the defending national champs Cardinal Stritch on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Dwayne Johnson.

BACK-TO-BACKIt's rare to win one national championship so winning two is quite a feat. That happened to Florida Southern men's golfer Tim Crouch, FSC women's swimmer Alli Crenshaw and the Webber International women's bowling team.Crouch repeated as the individual champ in Division II just a few days ago.Crenshaw captured her second consecutive 1,000-yard freestyle title earlier this year. The Webber women were repeat winners with another NAIA bowling title and were led by Diana Zavlova's individual winning effort in the intercollegiate championships.

SUPPORTING CASTI've complained this year about fans not showing up to support local teams, but there were instances that the fan support was overwhelming this year. The Florida Southern men's basketball comeback against Tampa in their first meeting at Jenkins Field House showed just how loud the Mocs' fans can be. Then there was the "Silent Night" promotion at Southeastern that left me more than impressed and still has me raving about how loud the Sportsplex got that night in early December. Finally, the SSC Men's Lacrosse Tournament championship between Tampa and Florida Southern was not only historic, but it also packed the stands, thus showing how far lacrosse has come in the state and where it's going.

THE LOWSFIRING FRENZYWarner had a pretty rough year on the field across all of its sports. The Royals won just one football game and played an overly ambitious schedule against some incredibly tough FCS schools. That wasn't the low point, however. The low point came in the school's version of The Purge, where it released or fired women's basketball coach LaDreda Akins after one year, the entire football and men's soccer coaching staffs and the men's volleyball coach in the span of a week. One year is simply not enough time for a coaching staff to prove its worth, and certainly there were other reasons behind the changes.But if the Royals really want to build a winner on the football field, stability is key. They did hire former Lake Wales High School football coach Rod Shafer to replace Jeff Schaum, but Shafer has a lot of work to do to make the Royals competitive.

ALMOSTWhile the Polk State softball and baseball teams and the Southeastern baseball teams can be considered highs based on records, it's hard not to consider the final results for all three as a low too.Polk State softball was loaded this year, but they ran into a dominant pitcher and fell short of the NJCAA Tournament in Utah. The same thing happened to the Eagles' baseball team. Polk State cruised into the final two days of the FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8 State Tournament, winning its first three games before losing its final two to Miami Dade College to miss out on a trip to the JUCO World Series in Colorado. Southeastern was a win away from making the NAIA World Series for the first time but it too fell short, dropping consecutive games after needing only one more win to advance.

OUCHWhen a player gets hurt, you hope for the best, but sometimes you just know it's not good. That was the case during Webber's football game against Newport News Apprentice School in November. Newport News kick returner Derek Banks suffered one of the worst injuries I've seen — a spiral fracture to his femur and a dislocated knee. How bad are spiral fractures? They occur mostly in car accidents and take an estimated four to six months to heal. And while it wasn't as bad as Banks' injury, Florida Southern's Dominic Lane broke his foot during a win over Florida Tech on Jan. 18. The loss cut short Lane's promising senior season.

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